So the plow wasn’t working very well.  It wouldn’t stay in the ground.  Instead it would slide up and dig only about two or three inches off the surface.

   Whether it was the nearly one-half inch of moisture or the increased growth of the grass causing the problem, I don’t know.

    As mid-May approaches, getting the grass turned under becomes more critical.  If the grass gets above six inches, it is harder to turn under and it will cause residue problems for future operations in the process of preparing a seed bed.

    Plus, plowing is painfully slow.

    As you can see, the plow barely covers the wheel tracks of the tractor, less than eight feet swath.

    So break out the oneway.  A oneway is really a oneway disk.   The disks do the same thing as the plow bottoms—turn the soil over burying the surface residue, allowing the residue to compost and conserving moisture. 

           It’s called a oneway because it only has one row of disks, all throwing the soil one direction.  A two way disk has a second row of disks that follows the first row and throws the soil the opposite direction.  A tandem disk also moves soil both directions.  (More on the tandem disk later)

      The difference between the plow and the disk is one of depth—the plow goes deeper--and efficiency of turning the soil.  The plow turns the soil over so that what was on top will be underneath, very consistently.  The oneway also turns the soil. But some of the sod ends up upside down, as with the plow, and some sod ends up lying on its side, while some will even end right-side-up.  But, both are very efficient at destroying the vegetation.

    I suppose this is a little like looking at a bowl of oatmeal, but it does show the different effect of using a disk and using a plow.  On the right, the sod is fairly uniform, upside down and in fairly neat rows.  On the left,  the rows are almost non-existent, certainly not as uniform as on the right.  The plow did the right side, the oneway the left.

      But, the oneway is 12 feet long, compared to the plow, less than eight feet.   So, hook up the oneway and finish the job.  (Job finished on May 14, 2012.)

Plow-Share

     So I took Sunday off thinking to finish my job on Wednesday after working  Monday and Tuesday all day.  And then on Monday,

       

      That's snow falling between me and the tractor, big flakes.  

    Well, can’t complain about the moisture.   I finished a dishwasher installation and began work on a “new” old stove that had to be converted to propane.  I didn’t get that finished by the time the gray and cold got to me.  Time out to listen to the baseball game.

   Tuesday was a lovely day.  Looks like I need to do some mowing.

            So I did.

                  

     Wednesday morning I put up a new rain gauge and made some adjustments to the plow.  Then, back to plowing.  Here are some plow shots:

                           From the tractor

          From the plow's right.

    But alas, my adjustments notwithstanding, the plow isn’t working very well.  Something has to be done.  What?  I'll have to sleep on it, I guess.

    Anyway, I have now shared the plow with you, thus, the plow share.  (The plow share is the replacable blade on the bottom of the shovel of each plow--bad pun--sorry)

Sodbusting

     Sodbuster.  Clodhopper.  Nester.  Words used to describe farmers, particularly the first wave of farmers to come into an area.  In this part of the country, that wave of farmers came rather late, the first decade of the 20^th Century.

     Big ranches ran cattle across open ranges at the end of the 19^th century.  The Homestead Act that populated other parts of the country after the Civil War didn’t reach here until the beginning of the 20^th century.  The range wars between ranchers and “nesters” didn’t result in much violence.

     My grandfather arrived in 1907-08.  He became a sodbuster who broke out a chunk of the open prairie.  

      And now, I follow in his footsteps, sort of.  Papa would assure me that driving a tractor is not work, as he did once when I was a kid coming home tired and dirty from a long day of running a tractor for a neighbor.  Real work was walking behind a team of horses, controlling the depth and direction of the plow by hand.  A single bottom plow, not a five-bottom one.

      My grass was farm ground twenty years ago.  The settlers were dealing with centuries of grass. 

       I also fudged in another way.  I pulled a chisel over the grass before plowing.  That loosened the soil some and made plowing somewhat easier.  Here is the “weapon” and the results of chiseling.

     Here we are at the center of the field where the chisel operation ended and the plow operation began.

     From left to right, tractor muffler, unmolested grass, and chiseled soil. 

     Then the plow.  I hope to have a better plow action picture soon, but not today.

 

       

It looked like this before I started.  

Here’s what it looks like after chisel.

    One of these days, I will get done, two snow storms and an inch and a half of rain later.  It took 30 hours to complete the chisel operation.  So far I have 47 hours in plowing.  It will take another 15-20 hours to complete.  I will try to get a picture of the after-plow soon.    But not today.  Today it is raining.  (Can’t complain.  If it doesn’t rain, nothing grows.)  Wait a minute, make that snowing.

    Anyhow, for better or worse, good or evil, I am now a genuine sodbuster.

In the Beginning

If you are looking for this

or this

or this

or even this

then you are probaly ion the wrong place.
    BUT, if you are looking for this

or this

(another view of the same animal)

(and a few more to come)  then you might be in the right place.

      Can a person farm using 60 year old equipment?  The circumstances of my life hve led me to a place where I can find out.  And I intend to do just that.

    Here are some of the details:  My parents bought the farm in the early 40's.  My siblings and I have been right loathe to turn lose of the land, as land appreciates right along with gold during times of inflation.  The farm ground has been in the CRP program for 20 years.  (More on CRP later, too.)      
     I now have the opportunity to try farming some of it.  I have kept my old equipment for the past 20 years.  It was out of date 20 years ago.  It's really out of date now.  But hey, it still works. 
     Sixty years ago, a farmer could buy a new tractor for under $1k.  No more.  The plow in the picture cost $600, 60 years ago. 
     Today, one rear tire on the old tractor in the picture cost nearly $1000.  To buy new or nearly new equipment isn't really economically feasible for the size of my operation.  It's out of the question.  And beside the point.
     I have what I have, and I intend to make do with that.  The first sod has been turned. The first and hardest step has been taken.  On we go.  Tune in and go along for the ride.